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The Week of March 4, 2024

On the Floor

Despite the fact that the Senate has had a slow, somewhat chaotic start to this year’s session, I am still working hard to advance my legislative priorities as we near the halfway point of session. 

This week, we debated a number of bills on the Senate floor:

Additionally, the Senate passed the following bills and sent them to the House of Representatives for consideration:

Senate Joint Resolution 71 provides for the levying of certain costs and fees to support the salaries and benefits of sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys and circuit attorneys. This joint resolution would ask Missouri voters to amend the state constitution to authorize court fees that generate revenue for the salaries and benefits of current and retired county sheriffs and prosecuting attorneys. Supreme Court precedent has prohibited levying court fees for non-judicial purposes since at least the 1980s, but SJR 71 was specifically prompted by a 2021 decision striking down a $3 surcharge on traffic offenses to provide funding for the Missouri Sheriff’s Retirement System. Although the purpose of SJR 71 is to authorize a funding source for law enforcement and local prosecutors that currently is unconstitutional, the ballot language written into it instead asks voters if they want “to preserve funding of law enforcement personnel for the administration of justice” without mentioning it would authorize an unlimited amount of fees to be imposed. The House Pensions Committee voted 8-0 on Feb. 6 to advance its version of the proposal, House Joint Resolution 92. That measure is currently on House debate calendar and could be taken up at any time. If either the House or Senate version wins final legislative approval, the issue automatically would go on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot for voter ratification.

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

Next week, Senate Bill 1411 is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee. This legislation extends the expiration date of the Uniform Small Wireless Facility Deployment Act. Last week, after working with the bill sponsor, I added this legislation onto Senate Bill 872, which would allow taxpayers to claim an income tax deduction for 100% of state and local grant money received for the purpose of providing or expanding access to broadband internet to areas of the state that lack such access. Currently, taxpayers may only claim a deduction for federal grant money received for this purpose. 

Commerce Committee:

The committee heard four bills this week:

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

The committee heard Senate Bill 854 repealing the current law prohibiting the executive director of the Missouri Ethics Commission from serving for more than six years.

Appropriations Committee:

The following departments and offices shared their funding requests for the Fiscal Year 2025 state operating budget in this week’s hearing:

Capitol Visitors

Other News

Senior Property Tax Freeze Credit

The application for the City of St. Louis Senior Property Tax Credit is now open. This tax credit was passed as a part of Senate Bill 190 during last year’s legislative session and signed into law by then governor. It allows the City to provide senior citizens with fixed City property tax rates while protecting other tax rates such as public schools, the public library, the St. Louis Zoo, museums, etc, from revenue reductions. Eligible seniors can apply for this credit online, via paper form or in-person at the assessor's office. Applications are due by June 30th, and individuals can learn more about eligibility and necessary documents at the link above.

Scholarship Opportunity

The Women Legislators of Missouri Caucus is offering sixteen one-time $1,000 college scholarships to young women across the state who wish to continue their academic career in college. Applicants must be a female, Missouri resident and 2024 graduating senior; demonstrate excellence in leadership, academics and community service; and submit a 500 word essay. The deadline is March 22, 2024. The application can be found on the My Scholarship Central website. 

Presidential Primary Coming Up

With the passage of House Bill 1878 in 2022, the state no longer holds presidential preference primary elections. Each party has chosen their selection process, which will take place across the state at which its members can vote to select which presidential nominee they want to be on the ballot in the general election. 

The Democratic party has chosen to hold an in-person presidential preference primary on Saturday, March 23 in each county across the state. Votes can be cast in person at a polling place in the voter’s county of residence from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m., with additional polling places in St. Louis and Kansas City. Voters may also request a mail-in ballot from the party’s website until March 12. The ballots will be distributed beginning Feb. 17 and must be returned to the party by 10 a.m. on March 23. 

The Republican Party caucus took place last week.

To check your voter registration or register to vote, visit sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/register.

House votes to clarify Jackson Co. assessor must be elected

The Missouri House of Representatives advanced a proposed constitutional amendment to the Senate on March 7 that would clarify Jackson County is required to have an elected county assessor. The action came on a vote of 116-10, with 18 lawmakers voting “present.”

A 2010 constitutional change that Missouri voters ratified with 74.1% support requires all charter counties to have an elected county assessor, except those with populations between 600,000 and 700,000 residents – an exemption that at the time applied only to Jackson County.

With the 2020 U.S. Census, however, Jackson County’s population now exceeds 700,000 residents, meaning it no longer enjoys the constitutional exemption. Despite that fact, the Jackson County assessor has remained an appointed position, with the county erroneously claiming a state law keeps the exemption in place even though the county’s population has moved outside of the protected range. However, since constitutional provisions trump statutory ones, the law the county cites cannot apply to this situation.

House Joint Resolution 68 would eliminate the population exemption to leave no argument that Jackson County is constitutionally required to have an elected assessor. If also approved by the Senate, HJR 68 automatically would go on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot for voter ratification.

Governor criticized for freeing son of Chiefs coach from prison

Drawing fierce bipartisan criticism, the governor’s office on March 1 announced he had commuted the prison sentence of a former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach who caused life-altering brain injuries to a 5-year-old girl and also injured several others during a drunk driving crash in 2021. The governor made no public statement concerning the clemency, which he issued in February.

Prosecutors said Britt Reid, the son of current Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, was driving drunk at 83 miles per hour when he crashed his pickup into two vehicles that were stopped along a highway entrance ramp, according to The Kansas City Star. Ariel Young, a passenger in one to the vehicles, suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for 11 days. 

The Chiefs subsequently fired Britt Reid and reached a financial settlement with Ariel’s family to provide for her ongoing care. Last year, Reid pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and causing serious injury and was sentenced a three-year prison term. 

The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney in a statement said the governor “used his political power to free a man with status, privilege and connections.” She also blasted the governor for not contacting Ariel’s family or prosecutors before making his decision.

“There simply can be no response that explains away the failure to notify victims of the offender,” the prosecutor said. “To Ariel's family, I offered my resolve to continue to fight for just sentences for those who injure others due to the reckless decision to drink alcohol and operate a motor vehicle.” 

Under the terms of his commutation, Reid was released from prison but remains under house arrest for the duration of his term, which runs until Oct. 31, 2025. He is required to meet weekly with a parole officer, work at least 30 hours per week and undertake 10 hours of community service per month. 

Supreme Court won’t review ex-KCPD officer’s conviction

Without comment, the Missouri Supreme Court on March 5 declined to consider the appeal of the only Kansas City police officer ever convicted of killing a Black person. The former officer, who is serving a six-year prison term, has already asked the governor for a pardon.

By not taking the case, the high court let stand former KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere’s convictions for involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for fatally shooting Cameron Lamb, a 26-year-old father of three, on Dec. 3, 2019. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District rejected DeValkenaere’s initial appeal in October.

DeValkenaere was investigating alleged traffic violations when he fatally shot Lamb as Lamb was parking his truck in a garage behind his house. Following a bench trial, the judge determined DeValkenaere was illegally present on Lamb’s property and had no legitimate cause for using deadly force. In rejecting his appeal, the Western District said DeValkenaere offered no evidence the conviction was erroneous.

The case took an unusual turn this summer when the attorney general, whose office typically defends convictions on appeal, instead sought to have DeValkenaere’s convictions reversed. Given the attorney general’s position, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, which handled the case at trial, stepped in argue for the convictions to be upheld.

Publicly, the governor has been noncommittal regarding whether he will pardon DeValkenaere. After the possibility was first publicly raised in July, Black community leaders in Kansas City strongly urged the governor against doing so. The case is State of Missouri v. Eric DeValkenaere.

Couple can’t have guns back despite gubernatorial pardon

A St. Louis couple whom the governor pardoned after they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for brandishing firearms at anti-police brutality protesters won’t get their gun back after the Missouri Supreme Court on March 6 declined to hear their case.

The June 2020 incident generated national controversy after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published photographs of Mark and Patricia McCloskey menacingly pointing their weapons at protesters who walked past their house on the way to the nearby home of then-St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.

The McCloskeys originally were charged with felonies but in June 2021 pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and, as part of their plea agreement, forfeited ownership of the weapons involved. The governor pardoned the couple about six weeks later.

Mark McCloskey subsequently sought a court to order to have the firearms returned. A St. Louis judge rejected McCloskey’s request, finding the pardon didn’t entitle them to have the weapons back. The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District upheld that ruling in December. The case is Mark T. McCloskey v. State of Missouri, et al.

Net state general revenue collections up 1.3% for year

Year-to-date net state general revenue collections increased 1.3% through the first eight months of the 2024 fiscal year compared to the same period in FY 2023, going from $8.31 billion last year to $8.42 billion this year, according to revenue data reported March 6 by the Missouri Division of Budget and Planning. Collections had been down 0.2% through the first seven months of the fiscal year.

Net general revenue collections in February 2024 increased 18% compared to those for February 2023, going from $703.5 million last year to $830.3 million this year. Growth in both income and sales tax collections contributed to the robust collections for the month.

Year-to-date collections now are currently outpacing the latest revised consensus revenue estimate for FY 2024 issued in December that predicted a 0.7% decline in collections by the time the fiscal year ends June 30. The original FY 2024 estimate, announced in December 2023, predicted 0.7% growth for the year.

House approves emergency funding to send troops to Texas

The Missouri House of Representatives on March 7 voted 122-12, with seven members voting “present,” to approve a $2.2 million emergency supplementary appropriations bill to provide funding to send 200 Missouri National Guard soldiers and 22 State Highway Patrol troopers to the Mexican border. The bill now advances to the Senate.

The governor asked for the funding after dispatching Missouri’s forces to help maintain order at the border at the request of Texas’ governor. About 250 Missouri Guard troops are already at the border under federal command at the request of the president. 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 573-751-3599.